I have looked on several cache pages and noticed that There are some cache owners that are logging their own caches as finds.
Is this an acceptable option? I don't want to do this if it goes againts any rules, but I keep getting differing ideas when I look at the geocaching website forum. Any one with comments, please let me know. Thanks,

Is this an acceptable option? I don't want to do this if it goes againts any rules,

I guess it's against the rules if you consider it a competitive sport. If you are like me, and just doing it for the fun of finding caches and the hiking, it wouldn't make much of a difference if someone adds +1 to their cache count for every one they have set...

I suppose it would be up to GC.com's staff. They seem to have a stance on just about every other thing that you can and can't do with their site. Perhaps post on one of their boards about it?

As stated by Silent Bob, this is not a competitive sport so GC.com does not worry about cachers that log their own caches as found. Other cachers out there do look at that though as bad form. The only instance might be if you were attempting to perform maintenance on a moving cache, but personally I would not log any cache of mine as found. Locationless caches must have an example provided by the cache owner to have been listed when they were being accepted. You should not count that as a find. I don't even log event caches that I have set up as found (except one), but rather the events that one of our other Steering Committee members set up.

This game/sport/hobby/adventure is not a competitive race against other players. I am competing against myself (sort of like playing golf as a hobby). I have goals set for myself that I am trying to reach. I did 100 caches my first year, 200 the second and I am shooting for 300 this year. I am only concerned with keeping my own pace. But if you do log multiple finds on your own caches you can bet someone in the Groundspeak Forums will point it out!

I *think* the practice of logging your own caches as finds might have had roots in an earlier incarncation of gc.com where your own caches would appear on the nearest caches list. The only way to get them off the list was to log them. I can't remember anymore if that was the case or not. That is not the case now, for sure, but perhaps the practice is ingrained.

I can tell you that I have been sorely tempted to log my kids caches as finds, even if I had a hand in helping to place some of them and have a really good or exact idea where they are, just to get them off my nearest caches list.

The fix for this is for gc.com to implement an "Ignored caches" feature. This would also let people ignore caches that they know they will never go after -- caches requiring special equipment, virtuals for virtual-haters, caches placed by a person you dislike, etc.

I am transitioning to a setup where I won't care what the website displays, but most mere mortals don't have this option.

For competitive purposes, I'd like to see a statistic like "hours devoted to the sport". By that meaure, not only is KB going to get due credit, but so are people who take the time to find multi-caches and puzzle caches, as well as people who get skunked a lot (3 times each for me on Bass Lake, Sand Dunes, and So Many Stashes!). So when you log a cache or place a cache, there should be a field where you can enter the time you spent on it.

I definitely consider it bad form to log your own cache as a Find to pump up your stats.

Having said that, I will admit that on less than 3 or 4 occasions, I HAVE taken a "cheapie Find" on a cache placed by a caching partner while I was on the trail along with him when he placed it. Rationale: He placed it, I was there, so I want "something" for being where the cache is.